Murroks
Deep within the jungles of Elfwood, there lurks a species known as the Murroks. These creatures often deliver a rather monstrous impression: iron-like scales decorate a powerful humanoid body, a ridged and spiky spine, claws and webbed feet, and a head equipped with poisonous fangs. Most remarkable, however, must be their tail: nearly as long as the rest of their body, rather flat (for better swimming) and with the maneuverability of a lemur's tail. They come in many different colors, but most often are green or murky blue, to help them camouflage in their native jungle biomes. The Murroks are generally considered dim-witted creatures, but are renowned for their agility and strength. They are prime hunters by nature, whose alleged dimwittedness is compensated by their cunning. They hunt often with traps and ambushes, but their natural strength and agility would allow them to chase and overpower prey as well, should it be necessary. The accusation of dimwittedness is not always true, however. There are tribal shamans among the ranks of Hunters, whose wisdom can at times be compared to that of more educated races. Some Murroks will even wander from the jungle in search of wisdom, though these cases are few and far apart. Oftentimes, they will not even bother learning Sheyan. History The Murroks first appeared on Shey in the second half of the Elven Genesis, when the Dawn Elves saw the potential of magic and began terraforming the continent to their liking. In their creation of Elfwood in the far North, many new and strange creatures arose from their unharnessed flourishing magic. One of these creatures are the Murroks, as the only civilized - if one may call them that - creature to be born from the Dawn Elves' magic. At the time, they were seen as nothing but a curious bi-product, and nothing to be all too concerned about. That would rapidly change. The Murroks, a few decades after their creation, grew numerous and became the top of the foodchain in the Elfwood jungle. However, they had competition: their creators, the Dawn Elves. The Dawn Elves looked upon them not unlike one would look upon vermin, and there had at this time been several recorded 'extermination attempts' from the Dawn Elves, to clean out Murroks that had settled too close to their city of Tiir. It did not take long before the Murrok tribes convened and joined forces; a war immediately broke out between the elves and the Murroks. The Elves were not prepared for this, thinking that the Murroks were too dumb to make alliances, and they suffered gravely for their underestimations: in the last year of the war, the Great Sack of Tiir took place, a bloody raid that lasted several weeks and resulted in the city being occupied by new reptilian tyrants. The occupation would likely have persisted for centuries thereafter, had the Murrok tribes been able to keep their alliance together. To this day, many claim that the Dawn Elves used infiltrators to sow mistrust and hatred between the tribes, which caused the alliance to fall apart. The occupation lasted twelve years, until leadership of the alliance fell apart - and the Murroks, being a staunchly authoritatian people, could not function without leadership. The Dawn Elves saw their chance and swept in to retake the city - the following siege lasted only a few days before the last Murroks had been driven out. But rather than seek to eradicate the Murroks entirely, the Dawn Elves instead sent diplomats to all Murrok tribes in hopes of finding agreements to build peace upon. For they realized one crucial fact: if the Murroks had a clear enemy, they could once more join forces with one another, and the Dawn Elves knew what an unstoppable threat a unified Murrok horde was. The Great Sack of Tiir was not an event they would want to repeat, and has since then kept a good and beneficial relationship to the Murroks, and have welcomed them into their walls, this time as friends and allies. But there are still some Murroks that whisper of the glory years when they held Tiir, and that it deserves another try. Societal structure The Murrok tribes are often quite different from one another, especially in these years when they have spread beyond the jungles of Elfwood, but they all share one thing in common: their matriarchy. In Murrok society, females dominate every sphere of life, and are seen as sacred lifegivers who deserve their place on the top of society. At tribal gatherings, the Court of Mothers is the second-most important annual event in Murrok society, and it determines the future of the tribe for the following year. But what is then the upper-most important annual meeting in Murrok society? It is the Court of Matriarchs. For a tribe to even exist, it must stand upon one central pillar: a matriarch. This Murrok is the central leader of any Murrok tribe, and is different not only in social standing, but in physique as well: she is the only Murrok with red scales, and she grows almost five times as old as all other Murroks. Murroks, being reptilian creatures, do not ever cease to grow; therefore, when a matriarch grows particularly old, she can become monstrously enormous. She is treated as even more sacred than the other female Murroks, and serves as an executive force in Murrok society. While the Court of Mothers convenes to suggest laws and decrees for the tribe, all suggestions must go through the Matriach, and she can make irrefutable legislations of her own at any time she pleases. And once a year, she too must convene with other matriachs - this aforementioned Court of Matriachs. It is through this gathering that all Murrok tribes co-ordinate with one another, in what may be considered a sort of alliance similar to the one they had during their glory years. During the time of this gathering, all murrok tribes feast and celebrate. A matriarch can be born by any Murrok, which further contributes to each female's holiness - she is potentially the mother of a matriarch, after all. If a matriach is born (recognized by her bright red scales), she is delivered unto the previous matriarch and raised until she is old enough to make a fateful decision: being the new matriach, will she replace the old, or seek to make her own tribe? If she choses to replace the previous matriach, she will take her throne, and the previous one will the next morning wander to the Bone Marsh, a curious place in central Elfwood where all matriachs go to grow old and die. If the new matriach chooses to create her own tribe, volunteers from the first tribe will leave their old tribe and join her. In Murrok society, even though female fertility is worshipped, all matriachs have so far been celebates, and this for a very clear reason: being a matriach, she may only mate with a patriach, the male equivalent of her kind. Unfortunately, such a child has never been conceived by any Murrok yet, and therefore all matriachs have grown old without child. Legend has it that should this near-mythical patriach appear, the child that he and the matriach will bear, will be the incarnation of the great Murrok goddess: The Broodmother. Religion The Murroks are the only civilized creatures know so far to be monotheistic. While all other societies either believe in a wealth of innumerable spirits or a selection of twelve gods, the Murroks are the only ones to believe that there is one and only one goddess: The Broodmother. She is the prime lifegiver, who gave existence to all things, long before the first Murroks even appeared. She is the ultimate creator and destroyer, the one who takes with one hand and gives with the other. To a Murrok, the worship of other races seems oddly fragmented: since they see all gods and spirits as nothing but parts of a greater whole - The Broodmother - choosing to worship every part of her individually may seem rather redundant, and the humans' faith of worshipping only twelve may seem like worshipping The Broodmother's toes and her thumbs. The Broodmother is not often referred to as a creature with much individuality or personality, except on one thing: The Hunt. The Hunt is a way of life for all Murroks, and it always leads straight to death - for it is in death that it reaches its completion. The Hunt decrees that each and every Murrok must strive to accomplish greater and greater things, so that in death, they may show their prime accomplishment to the Broodmother herself. The greater the accomplishment, it is said, the more pleasant an afterlife the Broodmother will give her child. If, however, the Murrok's accomplishment is not deemed worthy to enter her gardens, they will be cast away into a hellish place called The Drought Planes, a place where the Murrok is doomed to hunt for food and search for water in all eternity, never to receive either. The Hunt is called so because of the Murroks' hunting culture. Although The Hunt may be pursued in any way each Murrok wishes, most Murroks pursue it by hunting greater and greater prey. They meticulously seek out the biggest and most ferocious predators the jungle has to offer, and take them down in the name of glory and the afterlife. Some particularly legendary Murroks are said to have made the challenges even greater for themselves by hunting these monstrous beasts without traps, weapons, or companions. Needless to say, many Murroks have met their end this way, while others pursue The Hunt through safer means: building marvelous structures or composing music that will last for ages. This hunt for glory unfortunately and inevitably clashes with the authoritarian society that the Murroks live in. No Murrok would ever dare to oppose the word of their mothers, let alone the matriach, and therefore many Murroks live their lives as slaves rather than legends. Though the wish to fulfill The Hunt is great, the fear of opposing sacred authorities is even greater.